Education

During Computer Science Education Week, observed December 9 to 15, Newtown High School, Newtown Middle School, and Reed Intermediate School students have been writing code. “The movement across the nation is to get 10 million students to do an hour of code during that week,” explained NHS’s computer technology teacher Kristin Violette on Friday, December 6...

Dance China New York performers presented two shows on Monday, November 25, during an assembly for Head O’ Meadow students. Amy Fralley, co-chair of the PTA Cultural Arts Committee and mother of a third grade student, explained she had been researching different assemblies to come to the school. Her goal for bringing Dance China New York to the students was, “to offer diversity to their learning...

Representatives of the Joffrey Ballet School visited with Sandy Hook School students on Monday, December 2. During multiple presentations in Monroe’s Chalk Hill Middle School’s gymnasium, students danced along with the visitors as they presented Giles Andreae book Giraffes Can’t Dance...

Reed Intermediate School sixth grade chorus and concert choir members crowded onto risers in the practice room at their school on November 26, for the first of multiple sessions of music teacher Michelle Tenenbaum’s fifth and sixth graders to meet with the Connecticut-based indie rock band Alternate Routes. Led by founding band members Tim Warren and Eric Donnelly, the band was at the school for a run-through of their original song, “Nothing More,”...

During the first day of this year’s High School Elementary Musicianship Mentoring Association (HEMMA) program, founder and Newtown High school senior Grace Clark said the program has grown since it began last year. “We had, I believe, 113 last year, and this year we have over 200 [students],” said Ms Clark. Grace explained HEMMA connects elementary students with high school-aged music mentors. Each of the high school students involved with HEMMA receives community service hours in return for mentoring elementary musicians...

Students in the Newtown Public School’s Music Department are tightening strings, tuning instruments, and readying vocal chords for soon-to-be performed Winter Concerts scheduled for each school. The following is a listing, released recently by the school district, of the 2013 Winter Concert dates. The concerts will begin this week with Hawley School's Third & Fourth Grade Concert, and continue through the first week of February, concluding with Reed School's Fifth Grade Band Concert on February 5. All concerts are free, and residents are welcome to join proud parents for the performances.

Elizabeth O’Brien, a former Newtown resident who now lives and works in Hawaii, received an email from a co-worker on Tuesday, November 19. The co-worker had attended a conference over the previous weekend, and met Scarlett Lewis, the mother of 12/14 victim Jesse Lewis. Ms Lewis recently published a book, "Nurturing Healing Love: A Mother’s Journey of Hope & Forgiveness" based on an unexpected journey, inspired by a simple three-word message the had scrawled on their kitchen chalkboard shortly before he was killed. Ms O'Brien, who had planned to teaching her students about what happened in her former hometown, was "floored," she said, when she learned that Ms Lewis had agreed to visit her school to speak to students. The concept of choosing love, she said, has inspired her career.

As a fundraiser for both the Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School Interact Clubs, donated trees will be sold starting Saturday, December 7, for $40 each. According to NMS Interact Club Advisor Bruce Moulthrop, the fundraiser would not be possible without the generous donation of 100 trees — including balsam, white spruce, and blue spruce trees — from NMS science teacher Jason Adams, whose family has had a Newtown tree farm for generations. Due to Mr Adams’s grandfather’s age, he can no longer take care of the tree farm, according to Mr Moulthrop. “[Mr Adams] thought it would be nice to donate the trees to us so we could have a fundraiser,” Mr Moulthrop said...

Since last year when Ingersoll Automotive of Danbury began a program designed to give back to the community during the holiday season, roughly 115 laptops have been donated to area high schools. On Monday, November 18, Todd Ingersoll, president of Ingersoll Automotive of Danbury, stopped by Newtown High School to donate ten laptops that will be used by students who otherwise would not have access to the technology...

The Newtown International Center for Education (NICE) team is actively planning delegation visits for winter and spring of 2014. Students and educators from China, France, and Spain will visit Newtown this year, according to NICE, and the organization is seeking families interested in hosting a student and/or educator in their home during the delegates’ stay in Newtown. The Chinese delegation is scheduled to visit January 24 through February 22. The French delegation will visit in March, with dates to be announced. The Spanish delegation will visit between April 26 and May 6...